The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has just been ordered to shoot down any foreign drones that violate the country’s airspace including attack drones operated by the United States, Chief Marshal Sohail Aman said on Thursday.

By roping India and Japan into its standoff with China, the U.S. is raising the nuclear stakes in Asia – including, dangerously, between India and Pakistan.

With the world focused on the scary possibility of war on the Korean Peninsula, not many people paid much attention to a series of naval exercises this past July in the Malacca Strait, a 550-mile long passage between Sumatra and Malaysia through which pass over 50,000 ships a year.

With President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un exchanging threats and insults, why would the media bother with something innocuously labeled “Malabar 17”?

They should have.

Malabar 17 brought together the US, Japanese, and Indian navies to practice shutting down a waterway through which 80 percent of China’s energy supplies travel and to war games closing off the Indian Ocean to Chinese submarines. If Korea keeps you up at night, try imagining the outcome of choking off fuel for the world’s second largest economy.

Webmaster's Commentary:

War with China (or Russia, for that matter) right now, would be the most pig-headedly, ham-fistedly stupid thing the US government could do right now.

This, unfortunately, is absolutely no guarantee that the US government won't haul off and do it. Paul Craig Roberts has made this claim, that there are plans in the works to do just that, and he presented this in an article he wrote last Spring:

A lot of countries in the Middle East want the same thing – economic progress, peace for their people.

Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser on Middle East peace, said Sunday that Israel needs to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians before it can form an alliance with the greater Arab world.

Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj underscored her country's willingness to further broaden and deepen relations with Iran.
Swaraj made the remarks in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran on Saturday.

Zarif, for his part, referred to the good and growing ties between the two countries, and said, "In addition to strengthening mutual and regional cooperation, inauguration of Chabahar's Shahid Beheshti port shows the importance of this port in the development of the region and the roads linking the Central Asian states to other world countries via the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean."

During the meeting, the two top diplomats also discussed the latest regional developments.

At least 14 people were killed Friday, and 25 wounded, in the hostel of the Peshawar Agricultural Training Institute in northern Pakistan, when attackers from the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) faction attacked the site.

Three explosions were reported in the early morning, after which five gunmen, disguised in burqas, snuck into the facility and opened fire on students within. Officials say the casualty toll is likely to rise.

Peshawar police said the death toll included eight students, one guard, and five attackers. Students and police were among the injured. The TTP was quick to claim the attack, and Pakistani officials say they believe the attackers had connections to the Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

Webmaster's Commentary:

What sleazy monsters assassinate... innocent kids, just trying to get an education?!?

As the US and its E.U. partners continue to levy punitive sanctions on Russia, the BRICS are responding with new financial initiatives to help their members break-out of the US and European financial trading monopoly.

Currently, both China and Russia are surging ahead as the world’s top Central Bank buyers of gold, further consolidating their position to be able to weather a global dollar crisis which many expert believe is inevitable. When exactly that happens is still anyone’s guess.

NOTE: Russia is now the largest official buyer of gold – and the world’s third-biggest producer.

RT International reports…

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) are discussing the possibility of establishing a separate gold trading system, according to the First Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Central Bank Sergey Shvetsov.

Webmaster's Commentary:

This is why we are seeing such demonization of China and Russia; to prevent a loss of US dollar hegemony, the US government is willing to go to war to prevent this, if they deem it necessary.

Last Spring, Paul Craig Roberts shared the following report; and he is a guy who knows something about the inner workings in the Bowels of Power in DC:

And unfortunately for President Trump and this country, all of Trump's "President Whisperers" are war-centric, as though this was the only way to resolve the US government's geopolitical conflicts, rather than good faith, moral, hard-one negotiations.

In early November, from 2,000 protesters from the Tehreek-e Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Pakistan (TLY) began a sit-in in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. The protesters, led by cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, were originally provoked by a minor change to the oath for election candidates.

Though the government has already reversed the oath change, the TLY has kept the protest going, with Rizvi saying they want the resignation of the Law Minister, and that they need to “defend the honor of the Prophet.”

Officials had for weeks tried to placate them, offering talks, and even an apology from the Law Minister. On Saturday, however, police and paramilitary forces tried to push them off the streets, and that went very poorly.

After violent exchanges in the streets, more protesters are in the streets than ever, and Islamabad’s protest is now just the largest of several protests across the country, threatening to bring multiple cities grinding to a halt.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Are we looking at a potential regime change in Islamabad?!?

This is who these people are, what they believe, and what they are demanding of the government:

According to The Daily Mail, the secret training program is allegedly aimed at teaching so-called "irregular warfare" combat skills to Saudi forces and involves some 50 UK military personnel.

The British military is training Saudi forces to fight in Yemen, where a conflict between the Riyadh-backed government and rebels has claimed over 12,000 lives, The Daily Mail reported Sunday.

The program, codenamed Operation Crossways, involves nearly 50 British military personnel from the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, according to the report. They are teaching "irregular warfare" techniques to officers from the Royal Saudi Land Forces Infantry Institute.
***
The British military involvement is a "shameful complicity" in the suffering Yemenis are facing in the ongoing conflict, Tory lawmaker and former Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell told the newspaper.

"The UK has been shamefully complicit in Saudi’s role in Yemen," Mitchell said.

Reports of India allowing a group of US military officials to visit the Russian-made INS Chakra – an Indian Navy attack submarine – are not based in reality, the head of the Russian military cooperation agency said.

Claims of a rift in Russian-Indian military cooperation were reported last week by the defense news website StrategyPage, and circulated in Russia by business daily Kommersant. The report claimed that India had allowed a group of US Navy personnel to visit the Russian-made Chakra attack submarine, in violation of the lease contract. The nuclear-powered Chakra was transferred to the Indian Navy in 2012 after serving for three years under the name Nerpa in Russia.

Commenting on the claim on Monday, Dmitry Shugaev, the head of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, called the report “bogus.”

When’s the last time our media covered war honestly? When’s the last time you saw combat footage of American troops under fire, or of American troops killing others in the name of keeping us safe from enemies? When was the last time you saw an American soldier panicking, firing wildly, perhaps killing members of his own unit (fratricide) or innocent civilians caught in the crossfire of war? Maybe in the 1960s during coverage of the Vietnam War?

War is not glorious. It may feature noble deeds and remarkable sacrifices, but it also features brutality and many other bloody realities. War breaks men (and women) down. It does so because war is unnatural. Yes, war is many things, but it most certainly is about killing. Occasionally, the killing is even necessary. (Just ask those enslaved by the Nazis or the Japanese whether they greeted Allied troops as liberators.)

***
The bill includes $634 billion for “core operations,” and $66 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The OCO budget is notoriously used by the Pentagon to shift money around to various programs as officials see fit without having to ask Congress to fund them.

This massive bill is the culmination of months of officials trying to outspend one another, with President Trump proposing what he described as one of the biggest increases ever>>>

Referring to its sources, the portal claimed: Moscow suspects that despite the leasing conditions prescribed in the contract, Delhi allowed representatives of the US Navy to the Chakra submarine, who got acquainted with its internal systems. In the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, the United Shipbuilding Corporation and Rosoboronexport, from official comments, "Kommersant" on this topic abstained, as did the Indian Embassy in Moscow.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the United States is going to test Pakistan by giving them a chance to act against terrorists.

"Pakistanis have indicated - if we provide them information they will act. We're going to have to test that, give them an opportunity to do so. So, we are going to enter into an effort to have greater sharing of certain intelligence information," Dawn quoted Tillerson as saying in response to a Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, who had asked him to share with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee what he heard from Pakistanis during his visit to Islamabad last week.

China’s colossal industrial overcapacity needs global markets and it drives the country to explore wide-scale and costly corridors for overland access to the east and west.

China’s vision to establish a brand new international currency in lieu of the US dollar under powerful bloc of BRICS nation;

China and Russia’s shared efforts to shatter petrodollars and of the highest concern, China’s mega “Belt and Road” project is cautioning the US about its future economic hegemony in the region. Remember, the entire global violence of any sort, anywhere has its ultimate roots in economic interests.

Indian warships have entered Vladivostok on Thursday to take part in the first Russian-Indian joint-force drills dubbed "Indra-2017," Pacific Fleet spokesman Captain 2nd rank Nikolay Voskresensky said. "The Satpura frigate and the Kadmatt corvette of the Indian Naval Forces were officially met at the 33rd berth of Vladivostok’s Korabelnaya waterfront," Voskresensky said. An Indian command group and servicemen arrived in Vladivostok earlier to represent their country at the Indra-2017 land phase. More than 300 servicemen arrived by three civil flights and two Indian Il-76 planes to take part in the exercise. The drills’ official opening ceremony will be held on Friday, October 20, and will involve Russian and Indian command and servicemen. This is the first time Russian-Indian maneuvers will be joint-force.

Commission for Modern Military to Consider Skills-Based Draft, Women's Roles, Millennial Recruitment

A U.S. commission on national service has been impaneled to provide Congress and the White House with the experts’ opinion on revamping a proposed gender-neutral military draft.
Congress also wants the U.S. National Commission on Military, National and Public Service to suggest methods to close the cultural gap between the conscript-free armed forces and private citizens by inspiring millennials to join.

A U.S. drone strike in Pakistan Monday evening missed the leader of Pakistan's notorious Haqqani network by minutes but killed roughly twenty other militants, including one top commander of the terrorist group, as they gathered for a meeting, a Pakistani local intelligence official and a local government official confirmed to Circa.

U.S. intelligence officials would not comment on the strike but news reports from the region earlier in the evening suggest only five people were killed in the strike. Intelligence officials in Pakistan said one of the Haqqani's top commanders, Sangeen Wali, was killed during the strike, as reported by other outlets.

President Donald Trump will dispatch his top diplomatic and military advisors to Pakistan in the coming weeks, turning up the heat on a nuclear-armed ally accused of harboring terror groups.

Weeks after Trump angrily accused Islamabad of providing safe haven to "agents of chaos," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to depart for Pakistan late this month.

He will be followed by Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, according to US and Pakistani sources.

The one-two punch is designed to drill home Trump's message that Pakistani state support for jihadist groups has to end, according to officials briefed on the visits.

Washington has long been frustrated by Pakistan's willingness to offer cross-border safe havens to Taliban factions and armed Islamist groups fighting US troops and their Afghan allies.

Webmaster's Commentary:

The level of corruption in both the Pakistani military and civilian leadership is making for absolute chaos in the US foreign policy decisions regarding that country.

Historically, "regime changes" have come from within the Pakistani military.

The least disruptive thing the US government could do here right now, is to nurture some of the leadership in the Pakistani military who are Western-centric, and see what tools they could give them to ascend to a position of power and influence over governmental decisions, like not providing safe havens for the Taliban or armed Islamist groups, if in fact these charges are true.

As the benchmark KSE-100 index skyrocketed 400 points to reach 52,700 level at the open earlier this week, a new all-time high, the MSCI upgraded the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) to Emerging Market status. That paved the way for foreign investors that track the index and have between $1.4 trillion and $1.7 trillion available.Pakistan Economy CPEC

The most important thing which needs to come from this, is to benefit all Pakistanis economically, with greater participation in the country's economic growth, so that turning to radicalism will not be so attractive as it might have been in the past.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party nominated ousted premier Nawaz Sharif as its leader on Monday, a government minister said, hours before it used its parliamentary majority to amend a law to allow him to be re-elected party chief.

Sharif resigned as prime minister in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him for not declaring a source of income. He was also forced to step down as president of PML-N, though he kept control of the party and installed Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a loyalist, as prime minister.

The party’s state minister for interior, Talal Chaudhry, said a parliamentary meeting of the ruling party chaired by Abbasi had nominated Sharif as its leader. He said Sharif would be formally re-elected president in a session scheduled for Tuesday. “He will become party president tomorrow, God willing,” Chaudhry said

Webmaster's Commentary:

The poor Pakistani people never seem to get a break from the utter corruptedness of their government; of course, that could very well be stated about those in the bowels of power in the Occupied, Unhinged, Surveilled States of Amerika as well!!

A series of bloody incidents occurred on Monday along the disputed India-Pakistan border in the province of Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in at least eight deaths. Tensions between the rival neighbors continue to intensify over the restive province and its contested border.

After a week of heavy cross-border shelling between Indian and Pakistani forces, the directors general of military operations (DGMOs) of both armies held a crucial meeting on Friday.

That meeting unfortunately made no headway, as both sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire. Pakistan alleged that shelling by Indian troops resulted in the death of six Pakistani civilians and injured 30. The Indian side vehemently denied having deliberately fired at civilians.

"DGMO-level talks on behest of Pak DGMO was held on September 22. During the talks the Pak DGMO raised the issue of targeting of Pakistani civilians opposite the Jammu sector," the Indian Army said in a statement on Friday.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Dear Russian Ambassador Sergei Lavroff: I know you are desperately trying to get North Korea and the US out of each other's faces; but if you have a spare moment, could you please talk India and Pakistan (both nuclear armed nations) out of creating mutually assured destruction by using such weapons against each other?!?

Because sir, if the excrement hits the ventillation shaft here, at warp speed, we are looking at the nightmare sceenario of India fighting with its ally, the US, against Pakistan, and potentially China.

Pakistan on Wednesday told medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres’ (MSF) to stop work and leave its impoverished tribal areas that border Afghanistan, the health organization said, ending its 14 year stay in the volatile region.

MSF works out of two health facilities in the Kurram district of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) region, which has been plagued by militancy over the past decade and was the location of many U.S. drone strikes targeting commanders from al Qaeda and other militant groups.

Though security has improved in FATA in recent years, sectarian militant attacks, primarily targeting Shi‘ite Muslims, still occur. Twin blasts in the Kurram’s most populous town, Parachinar killed more than 75 people in June.

Local officials say MSF provides essential healthcare facilities in FATA, an area with some of Pakistan’s poorest healthcare and lowest literacy rates.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Does Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid even begin to comprehend how lousy the optics are on this move?!?

What was the Pakistani government thinking, when they did this?!?!?

There is no reasonable, logical answer which comes to mind; but this is a greatly respected medical charity, which has helped people heal in war zones around the world.

Beijing showed support to Pakistan right after Trump’s Afghanistan speech saying the country has made great sacrifices in the fight against terrorism. China’s foreign minister who was already in Pakistan on a visit agreed with Pakistani officials to maintain high level military, security and economic cooperation.

China’s “One Belt, One Road” project pumping US$ 55 billion into neighbor is alone a magnet to Pakistan’s Government. The US is opposed to China almost equally to Russia for disputed Islands in the South China Sea as well as its claims of standing by North Korea in the event of war with the US.

Webmaster's Commentary:

If President Trump wanted to push Pakistan into the Chinese/Russia economic/geopolitical orbit, he certainly did a fantastic job in doing that with his Afghanistan speech!!

It’s when President Putin starts talking that the BRICS reveal their true bombshell. Geopolitically and geo-economically, Putin’s emphasis is on a “fair multipolar world”, and “against protectionism and new barriers in global trade.” The message is straight to the point.

The Syria game-changer – where Beijing silently but firmly supported Moscow – had to be evoked; “It was largely thanks to the efforts of Russia and other concerned countries that conditions have been created to improve the situation in Syria.”

On the Korean peninsula, it’s clear how RC think in unison; “The situation is balancing on the brink of a large-scale conflict.”

Putin’s judgment is as scathing as the – RC-proposed – possible solution is sound; “Putting pressure on Pyongyang to stop its nuclear missile program is misguided and futile. The region’s problems should only be settled through a direct dialogue of all the parties concerned without any preconditions.”

Webmaster's Commentary:

The Deep State in the Unhinged, Surveilled, States of Amerika, will certainly do every thing in its power, including waging war, rather than allow this to happen; this is why we are seeing such an acceleration of demonisation, on steroids, against both Russia and China, courtesy of the corporate presstitutes and whorespondents.

As Russia and its BRICS partners convene this week, the organization faces a momentous test of its global influence: can it hold the line and insist on a diplomatic solution to the alarming US standoff with North Korea?
The ninth annual summit of the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – comes at a critical time. Ahead of the two-day conference opening Sunday in China’s southern port city of Xiamen, Russian President Vladimir Putin published an article warning that the North Korea crisis is “on the brink of large-scale conflict.”

It just goes to show how precarious the situation has become and why President Putin’s warning about the region being on the brink of war is apt. The risk of misunderstanding is grave and increasing with each round of bellicose exchange.

Putin is absolutely right. The only way back from the precipice of a nuclear war is for all parties to hold direct dialogue without preconditions.

Webmaster's Commentary:

We appear to have an absolutely no-win situation between an intransigent and bellicose Unhinged, Surveilled States of America, and a belligerent, unmoving North Korea.

The three guys, in this geopolitical mess I would call "The Adults in the Room", are Russia's President Putin; Russia's Foreign Ambassador Sergei Lavrov, and China's President Jingping.

And Putin is right; the only way back from the abyss is negotiations with zero preconditions; unfortunately, those in the bowels of US Deep State power in DC, will not see this situation in that way, even though millions of South Koreans will die in such an attack by the US against North Korea.

I wish I could see a scenario where war against North Korea will not take place, but that is pretty darned hard right now.

With this new North Korean detonation, look for the US presstitutes to be shilling that a military strike is the only answer, starting late today or early tomorrow, and hitting hard next week. Watch the number of times commercials aren't running, in order to force-focus the public's attention on this codswallop.

Just please remember the following warning, channeled through my "Inner Cynical Child": US citizens are "sold" wars just like they are sold cars, homes, bicycles, and bug spray. But let's not be buying this time, because we are looking at a potentially cataclysmic war, which may well turn into World War III.

Russia wants to promote economic cooperation within the BRICS format. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, there has been a number of practical achievements in the work of the five-nation bloc.
BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

“We value the BRICS countries’ consensus on this issue, which allows us to more consistently advocate the foundations of an open, equal and mutually beneficial multilateral trade system and to strengthen the role of the WTO as the key regulator in international trade,” wrote Putin.

Webmaster's Commentary:

It doesn't take Fellini to figure out about which currency Putin is speaking; it is the US dollar, pure and simple!!

Banks have received 15.28 trillion rupees ($239 billion), or 99 percent of the currency invalidated, the Reserve Bank of India said in its annual report on Wednesday. The government had initially estimated about 5 trillion rupees wouldn’t be declared following the sudden move on Nov. 9, indicating that this was cash stashed away illegally to avoid tax. The cash ban prompted the central bank to print new currency, reducing its profit and cutting annual dividend payout to the government by half.

“This data proves that demonetization was a total failure,” said Mohan Guruswamy, chairman of New Delhi-based Centre For Policy Alternatives, who’d advised a previous government led by the current ruling party. “The prime minister obviously had overstated his case. You’ve lost so many jobs across sectors. How can people trust Mr. Modi and his numbers?”

Can Pakistan survive a military intervention if it is to be announced yet another link of the so-called “axis of evil”... So the Trump White House is really on the ball now. After suddenly discovering what North Korea has always been, it has done the same with Pakistan, and is trying to cover its essential ignorance by saying how unhappy it is about it. Rex Tillerson is threatening to cut aid to Pakistan on the grounds that it is “providing safe haven for terrorist groups“. He is careful to say however that this is an ongoing problem, and that as “relations have been deteriorating for several years” the damage was done before his appointment, and is therefore beyond the ability of the present State Department to reverse. This hardly indicates a genuine resolve to counter terrorism, but given the number of terrorists the US sponsors to suit itself this is not surprising. Pakistan doesn’t seem worried, largely because it has been hearing all this for many years.

On Monday morning, the world had one less geopolitical hotspot to worry about, when following months of escalating verbal jawboning and explicit threats on both sides, India agreed with China to disengage at the contested territorial dispute face-off site in Doklam. India’s foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted on Monday that disengagement of border personnel at the “face-off site at Doklam” has been agreed to and is on-going, with China confirming that India had pulled its troops from the Chinese side of a disputed Himalayan border area on Monday afternoon, after a months-long stand-off which started in June.

The de-escalation started earlier on Monday when India’s foreign ministry said it had agreed with China to an "expeditious disengagement" of troops from the Doklam plateau, an area close to the borders of China, India and Bhutan, SCMP reports.

The talks between Pakistan and the US on the new American strategy for South Asia hit another setback on Sunday when talks between Pakistan officials and US officials were postponed, Dawn News reported.

"The visit of acting Assistant Secretary [Alice] Wells has been postponed on Pakistan's request. It will be rescheduled at a mutually convenient time," a senior US State Department official said on Sunday.

While US officials continue to blame the Pakistani government for the enduring Taliban opposition to their Afghan occupation, Pakistan has been increasingly firing back regarding US missteps, and the impact those have had on the Pakistani side of the border.

So while US officials argue that the Pakistani government is providing “safe haven” for the Taliban, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif today noted that throughout the 16-year US war, Afghan soldiers have been routinely selling US-provided arms to the Taliban.

This has been a recurring problem in the Afghan War, as the Taliban really are awash in US arms, both a product of sales from corrupt Afghan soldiers, and of Taliban looting of Afghan police checkpoints and making off with entire armories.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Why am I not surprised, and I have to wonder; just what Sec-Def Mattis has in mind to prevent this in present and future deployments?!?

Hidden in plain sight is an intimidating Chinese weapon that allows it to hold a quarter of the world’s population hostage without firing a single shot. While much attention has been given to the nation’s fearsome new military hardware, a formidable component in its arsenal has largely escaped notice: dams. With more than 87,000 dams and control of the Tibetan plateau, the source of ten major rivers which 2 billion people depend on, China possesses a weapon of mass destruction. With the flip of a switch, the Middle Kingdom can release hundreds of millions of gallons of water from its mega dams, causing catastrophic floods that would reshape entire ecosystems in countries downstream.

Only days ago, I wrote an article addressing the growing tension in the country entitled “From Charlottesville To Boston, America Is Falling Apart At The Seams,” where I stated, “Once again, it looks like Trump has been routed by the Deep State. Expect more foreign policy aggression and more domestic oppression in the very near future as the Deep State grabs the wheel and helps Trump keep it between the lines.” My prediction came true only little more than a day after the article was published...

Pakistan has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that the country was providing safe havens to militants.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office in a statement claimed that no country in the world has done more than Pakistan to counter the menace of terrorism.

“No country in the world has suffered more than Pakistan from the scourge of terrorism, often perpetrated from outside our borders,” the statement said. “It is, therefore disappointing that the U.S. policy statement ignores the enormous sacrifices rendered by the Pakistani nation in this effort.”

China on Tuesday said there will be “chaos” in the region if it follows India’s “ridiculous” logic and enters Indian territory to disrupt construction projects along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that Beijing perceives as a security threat.

Beijing has blamed New Delhi for the military standoff at Doklam or Donglang near the Sikkim border – now into its second month - and accused Indian soldiers of trespass and preventing Chinese soldiers from building a road in the region, which is claimed by Bhutan.

“If we tolerate India’s ridiculous logic, then anyone who dislikes the activity at his neighbour’s home can break into his neighbour’s house,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a news briefing.
She added: “Does that mean when China thinks that large-scale construction of infrastructure in the border area is posing a threat, it can enter India’s territory? Wouldn’t that be utter chaos?”

Webmaster's Commentary:

This situation appears to be escalating toward a military conflict.

And the US government, last year, heightened its defense posture with New Dehli.

This means that the US could well wind up fighting against China on India's side in such a conflict, which is why Rex Tillerson has to do everything in his power to keep such a conflict from turning hot.

Authorities in Mumbai have shut down a manufacturing company after it was accused of dumping untreated industrial waste and dyes into a local river that resulted in 11 dogs turning blue.

The group of strangely coloured canines was first spotted on 11 August, according to the Hindustan Times, prompting locals to complain to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board about dyes being dumped in the Kasadi river, where the animals often swim.

Footage shows the animals roaming the streets with bright blue fur.

“It was shocking to see how the dog’s white fur had turned completely blue,” said Arati Chauhan, head of the Navi Mumbai Animal Protection Cell, told the Times. “We have spotted almost five such dogs here and have asked the pollution control board to act against such industries.”

The president was referencing the Taliban and other groups posing a threat to the region and beyond during a prime time address to the nation on Monday, in which he elaborated on a new US strategy towards Afghanistan.

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat on Sunday reiterated that Pakistan is a peace-loving country but would not remain oblivious to its national security needs, reported the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

Gen Hayat while visiting the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) maintained that the country will pursue a policy of developing credible minimum deterrence to counter threats to its security.

He expressed his satisfaction over the development and progress of various strategic systems and capabilities, lauding the efforts of scientists and engineers involved in the development programmes.

As United States President Donald Trump is about to announce his much-awaited strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the latter is considering different options to counter the negative fallout of the new US strategy.

Trump, in his first prime-time televised address to announce his Afghanistan and South Asia policy, hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to 'agents of chaos' that kill Americans in Afghanistan and warned Islamabad that it has 'much to lose' by harbouring terrorists.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, while reacting to Trump's comments on Pakistan, said, "Hope the relevant policy decision by US side will be conducive to promoting security, stability of the relevant region."

In an interview with IRNA, Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Professor of International Relations and Politics at Quaid-e-Azam University said that for the last six months there has been a debate going on in Congress and the media that the US should cut its financial assistance to Pakistan to put pressure on the country.

“An impression has been given that the US is giving too much aid to Pakistan and this amount can be used to black mail the country,” the analyst noted.

He added that the Army Chief has given a clear message to the US in his meeting with Commander of the Central Command (Centcom) that Pakistan wants US to acknowledge its sacrifices in war against terrorism.

“Army Chief also made it clear to the US that the amount they are giving to Pakistan under coalition support fund is very minor and if they cut that aid it would make no difference to Pakistan,” said the professor.

As Chinese and Indian security forces square off on a remote plateau in the Himalaya mountains, it is has become clear over two months into the showdown that it’s not really about China building a road in an area disputed between China and Bhutan.

This time, China is attempting to drive a wedge between Bhutan and its traditional ally India, China’s main and traditional geopolitical rival. Most recently, China is frustrated with India’s reluctance to join its One Belt One Road infrastructure development initiative. Unresolved border issues are another bilateral problem, as is the long-time presence of the Dalai Lama and his Tibetan government in exile in India.

As always when China is involved in a confrontation near or across its frontiers — be it the border war with India in 1962, skirmishes with the Soviets along the Amur river in 1969, or military raids across Vietnam’s northern border in 1979 — there is a hidden political agenda.

The Trump administration and Pentagon have taken multiple steps in recent days to strengthen Washington’s military-strategic alliance with India.

These moves are manifestly aimed at encouraging India to hold fast to its hardline stance in the current dispute with China over control of the Doklam Plateau—a ridge in the Himalayan foothills that both China and Bhutan, a tiny Himalayan kingdom that New Delhi treats like a protectorate, claim as their sovereign territory.

For the past two months Indian and Chinese troops have been arrayed against each other “eyeball-to-eyeball” on the Doklam Plateau, while New Delhi and Beijing have exchanged bellicose threats and taunts, and ordered their militaries to ready for war.

India has moved thousands of troops to forward positions along its northeastern border with China, placing them on a high-alert “No War, No Peace” status, and undertaken emergency purchases of munitions, spare parts and other war materiel.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Using India's forces as a "proxy army" against China could result in severe blowback for the US diplomatically and militarily, in this standoff.

the slightest misconception, misunderstanding, or accidental discharge of weapons, could well pave the way for World War III.

Federal authorities are investigating whether sensitive data was stolen from congressional offices by several Pakistani-American tech staffers and sold to Pakistani or Russian intelligence, knowledgeable sources say. What started out 16 months ago as a scandal involving the alleged theft of computer equipment from Congress has turned into a national-security investigation involving FBI surveillance of the suspects.

Indian and Chinese soldiers were involved in an altercation in the western Himalayas on Tuesday, Indian sources said, further raising tensions between the two countries which are already locked in a two-month stand-off in another part of the disputed border.

A source in New Delhi, who had been briefed on the military situation on the border, said soldiers foiled a bid by a group of Chinese troops to enter Indian territory in Ladakh, near the Pangong lake.
Some of the Chinese soldiers carried iron rods and stones, and in the melee there were minor injuries on both sides, the source said.
The two sides have frequently accused each other of intrusions into each other’s territories, but clashes are rare. The Indian military declined to comment on the incident.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Unless this situation gets mediated, and quickly, India and China could well be slouching toward a shooting war over this disputed territory.

And why should Americans care about this?!?

Because President Obama enhanced the US defence and security posture with India last year.

A bulk of the troops of the Sukna-based 33 Corps have been or are in the process of being moved to the Indo-China frontier in Sikkim even as the controversy over the Doklam plateau at the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction continues to surface from time to time.

Eastern Command army sources revealed that all three divisions under the 33 Corps, which is stationed in Sukna, near Siliguri in West Bengal, have been deployed on the Sino-Indian border.

The troop movement from Sukna began about 20-25 days ago. The most important and vital elements of the corps have moved up and taken position in designated "Op Areas".

The Movement “Has More to Do With Posturing”

The troops are at varying depths of 20 kms to 500 metres from the India-China border in north and east Sikkim. Some units were given four days' written notice to move to the upper reaches while others have been handed out as little as six hours' notice to move up.

Webmaster's Commentary:

This may be attributed to "posturing", on India's side, but such a move looks about as serious as a heart attack to me, understanding that the Chinese have threatened India with a military operation, if they don't yield the land China claims is actually theirs.

The relationship between India and China seemed to worsen Wednesday when the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that 53 people and an Indian bulldozer was in China's territory and advised India to pull them back. This followed a warning Tuesday when an editorial in the state-run China Daily said that the "countdown to a clash between the two forces has begun."

"India should withdraw its troops and equipment. Regardless of how many Indian troops have trespassed into and stayed in Chinese territory, they have gravely infringed on China's sovereignty," the ministry said, the Global Times reported.

The China Daily editorial said the clock was ticking and that it seemed like a clash would be “an inevitable conclusion” between the two prominent Asian countries if India did pull back its troops from the disputed Doklam region.

Webmaster's Commentary:

China has set the war wagon in motion against India, and it cannot back down from this statement; it now appears that this conflict is a question of "when" rather than "if", at this point.

The Government of Bhutan on Thursday refuted Chinese foreign ministry claims about Thimpu telling Beijing that the trilateral border stand-off area in Doklam in the Sikkim sector is not Bhutan's territory.+
A top Chinese diplomat Wang Wenli had claimed that Bhutan had conveyed to Beijing through diplomatic channels that the area of the standoff is not its territory.

Wang, who is the deputy director general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs in China's foreign ministry, reportedly conveyed this information to a visiting Indian media delegation on Wednesday.
She, however, did not provide any evidence to back her claim, which has been strongly denied by Bhutan.

Official sources in the Bhutanese Government told ANI over phone, "Our position on the border issue of Doklam is very clear. Please refer to our statement which has been published on the web site of Bhutan's foreign ministry on June 29, 2017."

Webmaster's Commentary:

This standoff over a disputed border between India and China could get out-of-control ugly, very quickly.

And it is complicated by the fact that last year, the US strengthened its defense ties with India:

IF a major shooting war between these two nuclear armed countries happens, the US government, potentially, will be expected to provide India military support against China in this dispute; the situation is dicey in the extreme right now.

In the latest escalation between two nuclear powers (aside for the US and North Korea of course), the Indian Army has ordered the evacuation of a village close to the Doklam India-Bhutan-China tri-junction amid to a standoff between Indian and Chinese solders, India's News 18 reports. This takes place just days after, as we reported earlier this week, China turned the war threat amplifier up to '11' by threatening India (in an article published a Chinese state-controlled newspaper) that it could conduct a "small-scale military operation" to expel Indian troops from a contested region in the Himalayas.

Webmaster's Commentary:

This could get very nasty, very quickly.

And it is complicated by the US and India having enriched and upgraded their mutual defense relationship last year.

This means that if China and India's dispute hits the shooting war phase, the US government will be treaty-bound to assist India, even while it desperately needs Chinese help to resolve the crisis with North Korea.

India's diplomatic efforts to end a seven-week military standoff with China have hit a roadblock, people briefed on the talks said, prompting Chinese state-run media to trumpet rhetoric of "unavoidable countermeasures" on the unmarked border.

China has insisted that India unilaterally withdraw its troops from the remote Doklam plateau claimed by both Beijing and Indian ally Bhutan.

India's diplomatic efforts to end a seven-week military standoff with China have hit a roadblock, people briefed on the talks said, prompting Chinese state-run media to trumpet rhetoric of "unavoidable countermeasures" on the unmarked border.

China has insisted that India unilaterally withdraw its troops from the remote Doklam plateau claimed by both Beijing and Indian ally Bhutan.

(For a graphic on China-India border dispute click tmsnrt.rs/2wnxWuV)

Webmaster's Commentary:

A war between these two nuclear-armed countries could be an absolute and complete disaster for both their people, and surrounding countries.

Let us hope sane heads will prevail in New Dehli and Beijing, and that this issue gets resolved quickly and quietly, without bloodshed.

Chinese state media is quoting officials familiar with the situation as saying the nation is preparing for a “small-scale military operation” aimed at expelling Indian troops from the Doklam region, after a protracted stand-off in the area.

China was trying to build a road in the Doklam region when Indian ground troops crossed the border to stop them. Indian forces have remained there, albeit in small numbers, ever since. India does not claim the land belongs to them, but claims that Bhutan believes it belongs to them, and that an old treaty with Bhutan obliges them to back the claim.

The territory is sparsely inhabited, and of little value to either. Still, Chinese officials warn that the row with India could have a long-term impact on their relationship, whether or not the dispute results in any sort of military exchange.

Webmaster's Commentary:

China may want a "small" military action to send Indian troops packing, but may well not be able to foresee just how India is going to respond, militarily.

Added to this uncertainty, is the reality that the US and India have enhanced their mutual defense cooperation under President Obama last year:

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